Ah, indeed. However, I'm not just going to hate on Bush, I'm going to hate on Reggie and Leinhart and Lendale White because they're all products of being around each other. Put Reggie on the Broncos or Patriots and he would go apeshit. Mario Williams can make an impact wherever he goes.

__________________Regret nothing. At one time it was exactly what you wanted.

tmc, we are in total agreement about all 3 of those guys. everyone will see that none of these guys will live up to the hype coming out of college, and i think white will be the first one out of the league(i give him 3 seasons before everyone realizes he is a bust).bush may have a productive career but nothing worthy of his draft status.leinhart has a weak arm imo and he will have a worse rookie campaign than smith in sf.

I agree about Bush having a productive career and I really feel like he'll have an Eddie George-like career, which isn't all bad. He'll do well each year, but he won't be Football Jesus like people are making him out to be.

__________________Regret nothing. At one time it was exactly what you wanted.

Yes Bush may be greedy or maybe not. But there a couple of things that seemed to get overlooked in the hating that is generally directed toward athletes attempting to go to the highest bidder.

First of all, at the end of the day they are employees and business people, and not necessarily in that order. Secondly, why is that the owners always get a free pass but athletes are the ones who are constantly singled out as being selfish and greedy? I truly think one begets another.

In my mind these athletes are simply taking their cue from a culture that, yes, the owners themselves have created and athletes have perpetuated. Larger stadiums sponsored by large corporate entities, television revenue, and much, much more. We can't just isolate a player here and there and say they're greedy or selfish for wanting more money and somehow absolve the ownership from this....they are just as much to blame as all the Reggie Bushes' of the world.

Hey, if Reggie Bush is going to fill up the Super Dome or wherever it is they end up...more power to him! "Don't muzzle the Ox that treads out the corn." After all that's part of the reason they hired him in the first place.

Edge petitioned to wear #5 and got turned down. Before Keyshawn wasn't the league already thinking of opening up WR numbers because most teams carry a lot of WRs and numbers were a bit thin?

Yes, let's cry about Reggie Bush. Poor him. So what if he was illegally getting housing for his family and other perks against NCAA rules. You know what, if he wanted #1 pick money, he should have taken the contract Mario Williams now has. Because from everything I've heard, they tossed that deal to both, Mario accepted, Reggie declined. That said. QBs and DEs are two of the highest paid positions in football. They aren't a dime a dozen like running backs.

Good for Reggie for donating money to Katrina and the city of New Orleans to help it recover, but let's not act as if he did it totally selflessly. Remember when he was giving X amount of jersey sales to Katrina, as long as the NFL let him wear #5. That's not the least bit manipulative. An attempt to force the NFL to let him have 5 or to try to make them look bad. Luckily, he's giving that percentage anyways, but still. Lets not act like he didn't have some alternate motives.

Listening to Sirius, the beat writer for New Orleans said the McAllister was definitely the #1 and was progressing great. Looked and (somehow) felt better than he has in a long time. Let's also not forget they have Michael Bennett who isn't a bad back and is Bush-esque in his scat back, small frame type of guy.

As they say in the NFL. You play for that 2nd contract. That's where you get your money. Once you're proven you can work on getting a big deal. Until then, he's just the next Ryan Leaf in my eyes.

I still don't see why he has some huge ego because he asked to wear #5? He's still giving the money to Katrina Relief efforts and that's all that really matters.

As for breaking NCAA rules. I don't care. I really don't. It doesn't matter to me one bit. NCAA players get used as it is. It doesn't matter to me if they take advantage of their fame. Schools make millions off of kids who are provided a free education. 40k a year? Those kids are putting more money than that into the school's pockets, so I could really care less about any player taking money. I didn't care about Clarrett breaking rules. I don't care that Vick broke rules. It doesn't matter to me if a college player is taking money because most of them do and don't get caught.

I remember listening to Jeff Bostic talk about when he broke into the league and his first contract. He said, "that was a paycut coming from Clemson." I couldn't care less that a guy was taking advantage of his fame and getting shit for free. Will I feel bad for him if he gets his Hiesman taken away? No. Cause he knew he was breaking the rules and he got caught. But it doesn't matter to me.

As for McAllister...you've seen running backs come back from torn ACL's before. I don't care what he says. I'll be shocked if he goes for 1100 yards.

And as for Michael Bennet. He's sick with his 1 1000 yard season. And I know you're response will be, but Reggie hasn't played in the NFL. So what? That's what ROOKIE means.

jdlea, dont take the hating personally. everyone is just getting sick of all the greedy, pampered athletes that can never play their sport strictly for the passion that they had growing up. i agree everyone needs to get paid but when a player like antonio pierce leaves for basically the same money, just more up front money and then bad mouths the skins, something is definitley wrong with that picture. reggie bush hasnt played a down in the nfl so why does he feel entitled to it? most of the time a great college career doesnt = a great nfl career. sign a short term deal and prove you are worth the money

__________________ "It's better to be quiet and thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt."
courtesy of 53fan

jdlea, dont take the hating personally. everyone is just getting sick of all the greedy, pampered athletes that can never play their sport strictly for the passion that they had growing up. i agree everyone needs to get paid but when a player like antonio pierce leaves for basically the same money, just more up front money and then bad mouths the skins, something is definitley wrong with that picture. reggie bush hasnt played a down in the nfl so why does he feel entitled to it? most of the time a great college career doesnt = a great nfl career. sign a short term deal and prove you are worth the money

But, D, there are no short term deals for RBs. The average career for RBs is somewhere between 3-5 yrs. And unlike other professional sports, if you get injured in the NFL, it's Hasta la Vista, baby!!

Why shouldn't Bush try to get as much as he can for his potential value....I bet the Bensons' are.

jdlea, dont take the hating personally. everyone is just getting sick of all the greedy, pampered athletes that can never play their sport strictly for the passion that they had growing up. i agree everyone needs to get paid but when a player like antonio pierce leaves for basically the same money, just more up front money and then bad mouths the skins, something is definitley wrong with that picture. reggie bush hasnt played a down in the nfl so why does he feel entitled to it? most of the time a great college career doesnt = a great nfl career. sign a short term deal and prove you are worth the money

I'm trying not to, but having been in New Orleans, I saw him jump right into the Katrina Relief efforts. That really endeared him to me. I thought he was an awesome athlete before that. However, now I think he's a very good person.

That said, he's just trying to get paid what he's worth. While we may disagree what he's worth, the NFL Draft and other players' contracts dictate his worth. So, that being said, he's worth about exactly as much as Mario Williams since Vince Young is apparently worth more. Now, I know DE's and QB's are generally paid more than running backs, but Reggie Bush was the best player in the draft. Next to, maybe, Vince Young.

People need to get their money when they can. I don't care what we're looking at. Any profession, if you have the opportunity to get paid, you need to get that money cause you don't know when the chance will come up again. Everyone should get what they're worth and when you compare Reggie Bush to the guys drafted around him, that's what he's asking for.

It's him that has the Superdome sold out. Period. Tom Benson is going to get even richer off of him, why not just give him what he wants? He sells tickets and he brings in money for the owner. Tom Benson won't lose money if he gives Reggie Bush Mario Williams money. It's not just the athletes that are coddled here, people. The owners get richer and richer by putting these guys on the field and the players see a small share of the profits. So, I don't feel sorry for any owner/GM who has to deal with a player wanting a lot of money.

People need to get their money when they can. I don't care what we're looking at. Any profession, if you have the opportunity to get paid, you need to get that money cause you don't know when the chance will come up again. Everyone should get what they're worth and when you compare Reggie Bush to the guys drafted around him, that's what he's asking for.

It's him that has the Superdome sold out. Period. Tom Benson is going to get even richer off of him, why not just give him what he wants? He sells tickets and he brings in money for the owner. Tom Benson won't lose money if he gives Reggie Bush Mario Williams money. It's not just the athletes that are coddled here, people. The owners get richer and richer by putting these guys on the field and the players see a small share of the profits. So, I don't feel sorry for any owner/GM who has to deal with a player wanting a lot of money.

You summed up my thoughts, precisely. What I don't think we're looking at here, is that the door swings both ways. You can't call the athlete greedy, yet the owner is commended as a "business man". Like you said, if Benson will profit off Bush then Bush deserves a portion of that windfall comensurate to his overall impact.

jdlea,
I realize you do not care about the rules infractions Reggie commited in college. However his infractions may effect an entire team and University. USC may have to forfeit their two national titles and every game that Bush played in. If the Heisman comittee had any real values and balls they would strip him of the award since he was not a true amatuer.

Which leads me to the reckless way he and his representaive are negotiatieing his contract. Are you still going to be in love with Reggie if he follows through with his threat to sit out the entire year and enter next years draft if he does not get the money. How are the needy New Orleans people going to feel about him if he does that? Selfish? Yes.

Why would want a player on your team that has this kind of selfish attitude?

jdlea,
I realize you do not care about the rules infractions Reggie commited in college. However his infractions may effect an entire team and University. USC may have to forfeit their two national titles and every game that Bush played in. If the Heisman comittee had any real values and balls they would strip him of the award since he was not a true amatuer.

Which leads me to the reckless way he and his representaive are negotiatieing his contract. Are you still going to be in love with Reggie if he follows through with his threat to sit out the entire year and enter next years draft if he does not get the money. How are the needy New Orleans people going to feel about him if he does that? Selfish? Yes.

Why would want a player on your team that has this kind of selfish attitude?

Because he accepted a free million dollar house for his parents to stay in with out any regard to his team or teamates. He knew this was a rule infractions and still did it. Reggie was lucky this stuff was discovered after the season, what if it had been discovered during last season? No champonship game.
If you are on the current very talented USC team and facing possible sanctions, would you be happy? Plus I am not sure that his parents are that poor to begin with.
Then he proceeded to tell the entire nation on ESPN prior to the NFL draft that it was a big misunderstanding and that his name and family will be cleared once the truth gets out.
Well the truth is out and he commited several major rule infractions, for what? So his parents can live in a million dollar house. That defines selfishness because he willing to sacrifice his team and teamates just to live in a nice home.

jdlea,
I realize you do not care about the rules infractions Reggie commited in college. However his infractions may effect an entire team and University. USC may have to forfeit their two national titles and every game that Bush played in. If the Heisman comittee had any real values and balls they would strip him of the award since he was not a true amatuer.

Which leads me to the reckless way he and his representaive are negotiatieing his contract. Are you still going to be in love with Reggie if he follows through with his threat to sit out the entire year and enter next years draft if he does not get the money. How are the needy New Orleans people going to feel about him if he does that? Selfish? Yes.

Why would want a player on your team that has this kind of selfish attitude?

I've heard about that, but I highly doubt that threat was made because he actually intended to re-enter the draft. That seems like a threat an agent would have made. Kind of like whenever Ramsey's agents asked for him to be traded, but Pat overruled them. If he did follow through with that threat I would think less of him. I would think of that as selfish.

As for USC. If they don't think other players are accepting gifts/money that goes against NCAA rules, they're lying to themselves. I hung out with a few of the football players at Tulane and most of the didn't disillusion people about almuni being very "generous." So, I think it's a problem that an athlete is so brazen that he gets caught, but I don't think it's a big deal because I think most of them are taking money they shouldn't be.

And finally, USC might have to forfeit wins or games or national titles, but they won't be giving back the money that alumni dumped into the program. Or that they were awarded for going to and winning bowl games. The issue here is money. And college athletes deserve more than they get because schools get rich off of them and all they get is a free education. I have academic scholarships, but people don't show up to watch me take tests. I don't make money for schools. Athletes do and they don't really see anything for it. In my opinion, that's just wrong.